Published: Sunday, May 19, 2013 at 6:06 p.m.

Last Modified: Sunday, May 19, 2013 at 6:06 p.m.

These are just a few of the topics of bills affecting Southeastern North Carolina that were debated last week as the General Assembly faced a critical deadline Thursday for non-revenue bills to pass their originating chamber and make their way to the other side.

Those getting approval in the House include a bill sponsored by Rep. Paul Tine, D-Dare, to glean more information about how disaster modeling is used in setting insurance rates that coastal homeowners, particularly those living on the barrier islands, are tired of seeing spike.

"This bill is about bringing better information to the rate-making process and giving all the citizens of North Carolina more transparency," Tine said. "By requiring two models instead of one, and competitive historical data, we should have more fair and accurate rates. When the Department of Insurance publishes the rate in each territory for the amount consumers are paying, maybe we all will stop finger-pointing and start working on a system that works better for everyone."

Making its way through the Senate, to the chagrin of environmental groups, was Sen. Bill Rabon's Coastal Policy Reform Act of 2013, which would allow unlimited terminal groins along the coast and cut into a 2011 law that limits these structures and requires local governments to seek approval by voter referendum of any bonds sold to pay for building a terminal groin. That taxpayer protection piece may be central to the debate as the bill moves forward to the House.

A terminal groin is a long wall or hardened structure that extends out toward the ocean, with the principal purpose of minimizing and controlling down-drift sediment losses and beach erosion by catching shifting sand along the shoreline. But such structures raise environmental concerns and are not fail proof, opponents say.

"We hope the House will take a good, hard look at the changes. Basically the 2011 law would be stripped by this legislation," said Todd Miller, executive director of the N.C. Coastal Federation.

Rabon could not be reached for comment.

Among bills biting the dust was an effort to limit municipalities from implementing outdoor smoking bans such as those established by Wrightsville Beach.

Autism coverage

Included in the thumbs-up category was a bill that would mandate insurance coverage of children with autism up to $36,000 in services for people 23 years of age and younger.

According to testimony at a recent legislative hearing, Camp Lejeune and Fort Bragg have the highest rates of children with autism living on the bases than any others in the country; however, the military has slowed sending families here with a child with autism due to the lack of service providers.

This bill should help military families covered by TRICARE because requiring other private insurance carriers to offer these services will open up the state to more providers that have the ability to diagnose and treat autism, said David Laxton, director of communications for the Autism Society of North Carolina.

"If you have more insurers covering the families you'll have more people coming here to provide those services," he said.

Legislators were busy during the week, working well into the night to pass or fail the dozens of bills before them. They spoke to a wide range of topics, including several with a big local impact but that made little noise.

Focus on water

Rep. Rick Catlin, R-New Hanover, shepherded a bill that allows utility authorities rate flexibility, such as when negotiating with a coastal municipality to build a freshwater barrier to saltwater intrusion and to mitigate problems with well fields in the northern part of New Hanover County where ponds and wetlands are drying.

"It's important economically and health wise that we protect the water resources we have because water is going to be the new gold," Catlin said.

He also successfully sponsored a bill aimed at informing well water users what is tested for and what is not. "There are people right now that have been drinking contaminated water," he said.

Beyond crossover

Some of the biggest topics before the N.C. General Assembly have yet to come up. Not sensitive to the deadline are the state budget, tax reform, which could affect film incentives, and other measures of local importance such as a bill to study alternatives to increasing tolls on coastal ferries.

"Our biggest issues will be the budget and economy and tax bills, and a lot of that work is being done in the Senate first and coming over next week," said Rep. Frank Iler, R-Brunswick.

Iler said a bill he sponsored with Rep. Susi Hamilton, D-New Hanover, to curtail sex trafficking is one of his top priorities moving forward. The House bill failed to meet deadline, but Sen. Thom Goolsby, R-New Hanover, successfully passed a similar bill in the Senate that both Hamilton and Iler said they will team up to strengthen as it crosses to the House.

Iler also was successful in passing a measure that would give Brunswick and Dare counties the ability to act on boats that have been abandoned more than 30 days.

Rep. Ted Davis has had some early success with bills. His measure to change procedures dealing with custody cases that involve deployed military men and women has already been signed into law by Gov. Pat McCrory. He also was successful in moving a bill to the Senate that says those serving on a grand jury cannot be called to serve again for six months.

A bill of his that hasn't moved deals with clarifying who has the hiring and firing authority for the State Ports Authority's executive director – the SPA board or the Department of Transportation.

"(DOT) and the (SPA) board are trying to work that out. If we can't work it out, that (bill) could move forward," Davis said.

He said that bill is not subject to the crossover deadline, nor is his effort to keep funding level for Cape Fear Community College's Marine Technology program, which McCrory proposed cutting roughly in half. The latter will be dealt with in the budget-making process, Davis said.

Other local bills moving along sponsored by the local delegation include a controversial measure filed by Goolsby to repeal the Racial Justice Act as one means of lifting the de facto moratorium on the death penalty, stalled by legal tangles since 2007. The Racial Justice Act allows certain statistical data to be presented in cases to determine if racial profiling lead to a death penalty sentence. If found to be the case, the law allows a judge to commute a sentence to life in prison without parole. But Goolsby argues it unnecessarily clogs the system with legal challenges.

But not making deadline were several of Goolsby's so-called "sunshine" bills aimed at providing government accountability and supporting open meetings and records by establishing penalties for noncompliance.

Goolsby also took up the fight against efforts to allow electronic filing of public notices by governmental bodies as opposed to newspaper filings, which proponents argued would save taxpayer dollars. Several bills to move toward electronic filings of public notices failed to make deadline over concerns that not all members of the public have easy access to computers. It's unclear if the issue will pop up later in the session as it was among the most hotly debated this week.

"I am always for public notice, and by that I mean published in a newspaper of general circulation. My past votes demonstrate my belief," Goolsby said.

<p>Property insurance rate-making reform. Terminal groins. Outdoor smoking bans. Clean water. Insurance coverage for children with autism. </p><p>These are just a few of the topics of bills affecting Southeastern North Carolina that were debated last week as the General Assembly faced a critical deadline Thursday for non-revenue bills to pass their originating chamber and make their way to the other side. </p><p>Those getting approval in the House include a bill sponsored by Rep. Paul Tine, D-Dare, to glean more information about how disaster modeling is used in setting insurance rates that coastal homeowners, particularly those living on the barrier islands, are tired of seeing spike. </p><p>"This bill is about bringing better information to the rate-making process and giving all the citizens of North Carolina more transparency," Tine said. "By requiring two models instead of one, and competitive historical data, we should have more fair and accurate rates. When the Department of Insurance publishes the rate in each territory for the amount consumers are paying, maybe we all will stop finger-pointing and start working on a system that works better for everyone."</p><p>Making its way through the Senate, to the chagrin of environmental groups, was Sen. Bill Rabon's Coastal Policy Reform Act of 2013, which would allow unlimited terminal groins along the coast and cut into a 2011 law that limits these structures and requires local governments to seek approval by voter referendum of any bonds sold to pay for building a terminal groin. That taxpayer protection piece may be central to the debate as the bill moves forward to the House. </p><p>A terminal groin is a long wall or hardened structure that extends out toward the ocean, with the principal purpose of minimizing and controlling down-drift sediment losses and beach erosion by catching shifting sand along the shoreline. But such structures raise environmental concerns and are not fail proof, opponents say. </p><p>"We hope the House will take a good, hard look at the changes. Basically the 2011 law would be stripped by this legislation," said Todd Miller, executive director of the N.C. Coastal Federation. </p><p>Rabon could not be reached for comment. </p><p>Among bills biting the dust was an effort to limit municipalities from implementing outdoor smoking bans such as those established by Wrightsville Beach.</p><h3>Autism coverage</h3>
<p>Included in the thumbs-up category was a bill that would mandate insurance coverage of children with autism up to $36,000 in services for people 23 years of age and younger. </p><p>According to testimony at a recent legislative hearing, Camp Lejeune and Fort Bragg have the highest rates of children with autism living on the bases than any others in the country; however, the military has slowed sending families here with a child with autism due to the lack of service providers. </p><p>This bill should help military families covered by TRICARE because requiring other private insurance carriers to offer these services will open up the state to more providers that have the ability to diagnose and treat autism, said David Laxton, director of communications for the Autism Society of North Carolina.</p><p>"If you have more insurers covering the families you'll have more people coming here to provide those services," he said. </p><p>Legislators were busy during the week, working well into the night to pass or fail the dozens of bills before them. They spoke to a wide range of topics, including several with a big local impact but that made little noise.</p><h3>Focus on water</h3>
<p>Rep. Rick Catlin, R-New Hanover, shepherded a bill that allows utility authorities rate flexibility, such as when negotiating with a coastal municipality to build a freshwater barrier to saltwater intrusion and to mitigate problems with well fields in the northern part of New Hanover County where ponds and wetlands are drying. </p><p>"It's important economically and health wise that we protect the water resources we have because water is going to be the new gold," Catlin said. </p><p>He also successfully sponsored a bill aimed at informing well water users what is tested for and what is not. "There are people right now that have been drinking contaminated water," he said.</p><h3>Beyond crossover</h3>
<p>Some of the biggest topics before the N.C. General Assembly have yet to come up. Not sensitive to the deadline are the state budget, tax reform, which could affect film incentives, and other measures of local importance such as a bill to study alternatives to increasing tolls on coastal ferries. </p><p>"Our biggest issues will be the budget and economy and tax bills, and a lot of that work is being done in the Senate first and coming over next week," said Rep. Frank Iler, R-Brunswick. </p><p>Iler said a bill he sponsored with Rep. Susi Hamilton, D-New Hanover, to curtail sex trafficking is one of his top priorities moving forward. The House bill failed to meet deadline, but Sen. Thom Goolsby, R-New Hanover, successfully passed a similar bill in the Senate that both Hamilton and Iler said they will team up to strengthen as it crosses to the House. </p><p>Iler also was successful in passing a measure that would give Brunswick and Dare counties the ability to act on boats that have been abandoned more than 30 days. </p><p>Rep. Ted Davis has had some early success with bills. His measure to change procedures dealing with custody cases that involve deployed military men and women has already been signed into law by Gov. Pat McCrory. He also was successful in moving a bill to the Senate that says those serving on a grand jury cannot be called to serve again for six months. </p><p>A bill of his that hasn't moved deals with clarifying who has the hiring and firing authority for the State Ports Authority's executive director – the SPA board or the Department of Transportation. </p><p>"(DOT) and the (SPA) board are trying to work that out. If we can't work it out, that (bill) could move forward," Davis said. </p><p>He said that bill is not subject to the crossover deadline, nor is his effort to keep funding level for <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/topic9937"><b>Cape Fear Community College</b></a>'s Marine Technology program, which McCrory proposed cutting roughly in half. The latter will be dealt with in the budget-making process, Davis said. </p><p>Other local bills moving along sponsored by the local delegation include a controversial measure filed by Goolsby to repeal the Racial Justice Act as one means of lifting the de facto moratorium on the death penalty, stalled by legal tangles since 2007. The Racial Justice Act allows certain statistical data to be presented in cases to determine if racial profiling lead to a death penalty sentence. If found to be the case, the law allows a judge to commute a sentence to life in prison without parole. But Goolsby argues it unnecessarily clogs the system with legal challenges. </p><p>But not making deadline were several of Goolsby's so-called "sunshine" bills aimed at providing government accountability and supporting open meetings and records by establishing penalties for noncompliance. </p><p>Goolsby also took up the fight against efforts to allow electronic filing of public notices by governmental bodies as opposed to newspaper filings, which proponents argued would save taxpayer dollars. Several bills to move toward electronic filings of public notices failed to make deadline over concerns that not all members of the public have easy access to computers. It's unclear if the issue will pop up later in the session as it was among the most hotly debated this week. </p><p>"I am always for public notice, and by that I mean published in a newspaper of general circulation. My past votes demonstrate my belief," Goolsby said. </p><p>Metro desk: 343-2389</p><p>On <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/news41"><b>Twitter</b></a>: @StarNewsMolly</p>